Lightweight prospect Michael Dutchover will face Jose Luis Rodriguez on December 20, Thompson Boxing Promotions announced on Monday.

The eight-round bout will take place at the Omega Products International in Corona, California and will headline a three-bout ‘3.2.1 Boxing’ stream on the Thompson Boxing website, along with their Facebook and YouTube pages (5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT).

Dutchover (14-1, 10 knockouts) was scheduled to face Manuel Mendez on November 1, but Mendez had to withdraw from the fight after suffering an injury during training camp.

In his last bout, on July 26, Dutchover defeated Jorge Marron by unanimous decision. It was his first outing since he suffered his first loss as a pro at the hands of Thomas Mattice on September 20 of last year in his hometown of Midland, Texas. Dutchover was the more-effective fighter early on, but Mattice rallied during the second half of the fight and earned himself a ninth-round stoppage win.

Now residing and training in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Fe Springs, Dutchover is glad that he will be able to fight before the conclusion of 2020.

“My last opponent (Mendez) suffered a bad accident, so I was unable to fight,” said Dutchover, who is co-promoted by Thompson Boxing and Banner Promotions. “I am now very focused and working hard in the gym with my coach Danny Zamora and my stablemate (unbeaten junior welterweight) Ruben Torres. I am ready to finish 2020 with a bang.”

Rodriguez (25-13-1, 13 KOs) last fought on March 30, 2019 and lost by unanimous decision to former world title challenger Antonio Orozco. Six weeks prior to that fight, Rodriguez, who resides in Monterey, Mexico, fought to a majority-decision draw with Bakhtiyar Eyubov.

The 33-year-old Rodriguez has suffered losses to former world titleholder Jose Pedraza, unbeaten junior welterweight Mario Barrios, lightweight contender Felix Verdejo and Sharif Bogere.

This December 20 card will conclude Thompson Boxing’s 2020 schedule. Alex Camponovo created the ‘3.2.1 Boxing’ concept to give fighters under the promotional banner a platform to fight and give fans competitive bouts.

“It is exciting to see how the ‘3.2.1 Boxing’ series has progressed,” said Camponovo, Thompson Boxing’s matchmaker and general manager. “We have worked hard to make the shows possible, and we’re slowly getting back to putting on the stacked cards we were able to do before the pandemic.

“We’re excited to do a final show close to the holidays to celebrate an otherwise bizarre year,” said promoter Ken Thompson. “We’re focusing on bringing the best fights possible and we want to finish the year well and look into starting 2021 with a lot of momentum.”

In the co-feature, junior bantamweights Saul Sanchez and Mario Hernandez, both of whom are promoted by Thompson Boxing, will square off in an eight-round bout.

Sanchez (14-1, 8 KOs), who resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Pacoima, stopped former contender Daniel Lozano in the opening round of his last bout on October 9. The 23-year-old has won his last two bouts since losing by split decision to Puerto Rico’s Edwin Rodriguez on August 23 of last year.

Hernandez (10-1-1, 3 KOs) of Santa Ana, California has also won his last two fights since suffering the only loss of his career at the hands of Luis Saavedra on February 8, 2019.

In the opening bout, middleweight Richard Brewart (7-0, 3 KOs) of nearby Rancho Cucamonga will face Louis Hernandez (8-0-1, 6 KOs) of Jackson, Mississippi in a six-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter FSalazarBoxing

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